Bob Stoll Quoted in Financial Times

Washington, D.C., partner Bob Stoll was quoted in a Financial Times article on March 30. The article, titled, “US Supreme Court to Hear Key Patent Case,” discussed a landmark patent infringement case that could restrict the types of software and computer programs that are eligible for patent protection.

The case, between Alice Corp of Australia and CLS Bank of the UK, could send shockwaves through the technology and patent communities should the Supreme Court drastically tighten eligibility standards or determine that software is too abstract for patent protection.

Bob argues that the court must recognize the importance of software to job creation and growth in the U.S. economy. He said, “We have to be very careful with how we tweak [software patentability] because this is where we are doing great things.”

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office which evaluates patent applications has been accused of lowering its standards to cope with a massive backlog. Bob said, “If we spent more time upfront examining, then there would not be as many improvidently issued patents.”